Letting Go
by ihkny
Summary: In which Sakura realizes that letting go is the only option she has left.


**Title:** Letting Go

**Author: **ihkny

**Characters/Pairing: **minor Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto(ish)

**Type:** One-shot

**Genre:** One-sided Romance

**Word Count:** 1442

**Theme:** Random song ficlet #1

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. 3 Libras belongs to A Perfect Circle (his voice is beautiful).

**Summary: **In which Sakura realizes that letting go is the only option she has left.

* * *

"Letting Go"

Reflecting back on the moment she declared her undying love for her raven haired ex-teammate always produced the classic 'what-if' scenarios, or, well… one really. What if he had stayed? Would he have ever loved her in return? Would she be where she was now? Things most definitely would have been different, probably for the worst, as much as she hated to admit that fact. When told the comforting words of "time heals all wounds" she had taken it to heart. As the days turned to months, and the months to years she slowly came to the conclusion that the person to come up with such a statement was an idiot. "Time wounds all heals" seemed to be a much better description, but then, the wounds never seemed to completely close in the first place. The dull ache was ever present and consuming, the hurt of rejection and her powerlessness to keep him within Konoha a constant reminder of just how useless she was.

_**Threw you the obvious and you flew  
With it on your back  
A name in your recollection  
Down among a million same.**_

The thank you he graced her with upon knocking her unconscious had never ceased to eat at the recesses of her mind. Thank you for what? For caring? For always being there for him? For putting up with his emotionally constipated self? Although she had never stopped trying to be something more than just the female on his team, she was fairly certain she had never made it to the status of "friend". She'd made it pretty evident that she cared for him deeply and he had discarded it and he forever would even when they somehow managed to get him back. As far as he was concerned she was just another waste of space, a name among a million not worth a spare moment of his time. She was weak.

_**Difficult not to feel a little bit disappointed  
And passed over  
When I've looked right through  
To see you naked but oblivious  
And you don't...see...me.**_

The encounter at the base in Otogakure was just another blow he dealt her in a long list of grievous injuries she suffered on his behalf. The years of strenuous training she endured to become stronger in hopes of finally showing him she wasn't just a weak little girl needing protection became null and void upon his disinterested brush off of her. She had offered him the world on a silver platter, so to speak, that fateful evening as well, willing to do anything he wished of her. Looking back, her actions were foolish and the emotions that had followed after she awoke on that abysmal stone bench had been self-loathing at her inability to make him stay and bitterness at her lack of strength and will to physically force him not to leave. It had been the ultimate factor in her seeking the Godaime hokage to become her mentor. It was learning of the ebony eyed male's declaration of no longer holding 'bonds' to herself and Naruto and their endeavor to capture the ex-Konoha nin once more amounting in failure, that those old wounds were ripped anew. Time was proving once again to be slacking in its healing duties and Sakura wasn't sure if holding on was the wisest of choices anymore.

_**But i threw you the obvious  
Just to see if there's more behind the  
Eyes of a fallen angel,  
Eyes of a tragedy.**_

She would never be able to relate to him, not in the ways Naruto had. Even then Sasuke had held Naruto at an arm's length and declared the wild, blue eyed blonde to never have the ability to reach the level of tormented existence that he resided on. He always viewed her as another fan girl, never seeing that she was of a completely different breed. He was a beautiful boy, there was no doubt about that, but to her he was so much more than just a pretty face. She wanted to take away his pain; she would do anything just to see him smile, to see him happy again. She wished for him to open up to her, to allow her to understand and see what it was that ailed him day to day so she could show him he was not alone, that he didn't have to carry the burden on his own.

_**Here i am expecting just a little bit  
Too much from the wounded.  
But i see, see through it all, see through  
And see you.**_

Perhaps it was too much to ask of the broody, anti-social boy, she mused. The trust and other psychological issues he suffered from after the destruction of his clan and the betrayal of his brother destroyed his will to connect with others, something she could never fully grasp in her younger years. One would think he would not wish to wallow in self pity and the hollow emptiness of being alone, that he would seek out companionship. Well, whoever thought such nonsense was wrong, _she _was wrong. And while she could see now the extent of the darkness that consumed him after her extensive research in to the Uchiha clan files, she still could not help but want to reach out to the young man that she so longed to help.

_**Cause I threw you the obvious  
To see what occurs behind the  
Eyes of a fallen angel,  
Eyes of a tragedy.**_

It was a year after the encounter in Sound, after they chased him and his team down only to have him slip through their grasp again, after he finally defeated his hated brother, and after the events with the Akatsuki had died down that he returned. He was different, they all were and still he looked at her with that same expression of annoyance, as if nothing had changed. She was weary of the game they played. She had matured, grown strong in mind and body, and she no longer needed his approval.

_**Oh well.  
Oh well, apparently nothing.  
Apparently nothing at all.**_

It was time to move on. She wasn't going to wait around forever until he finally saw her, saw what had always been there and offered to him. If he couldn't see her, then it was time she found someone who did, or rather… The someone who always had.

Sakura pulled from her silent reverie to gaze at the tan, whiskered face of her loud cerulean eyed best friend. He had always been there for her and now… Now maybe it was time for something new. She smiled as she approached the blonde already situated at the ramen bar awaiting her arrival for their weekly lunch, the raven haired shinobi far from her mind.

_**You don't, you don't, you don't see me.  
You don't, you don't, you don't see me.**_

_**You don't, you don't, you don't see me.  
You don't, you don't, you don't see me.**_

_**You don't see me.  
You don't, you don't.  
You don't see me at all**_

She would live with the wounds the Uchiha had uncaringly bestowed upon her, but she would not let them hinder her any longer from the love and affection and life she deserved to have.

_She was letting go._


End file.
